Taking a stand against bullying

Twelve-year-old Mackey Linton, left, and her mother, Shannon reveal their Anti-Bullying poster with a long list of signatures from other supporters, supporting their cause. Joshua Crawford/Savannah Morning News

While going through bullying, Mackey Linton felt comfort and support from her six-month-year-old dog, Dixie who has been her true friend and companion throughout the fight. Joshua Crawford/Savannah Morning news

Mackey Linton didn’t set out to be the latest face of anti-bullying, but the Blessed Sacrament Catholic School fifth-grader became just that with the making of a YouTube video that has struck a nerve with students around Savannah.

One of the interesting aspects of her story is that she rose to local notoriety without uttering a word. The video shows a sad faced girl alone in a colorful bedroom with only handwritten notes on index cards and Mark Willis’ “Don’t Laugh At Me” as background music.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but your words can kill,” she says in a series of index cards she holds up to the camera one at a time.

Since Saturday, the 7 minutes and 41 seconds-long video has generated more than 1,600 views and dozens of comments on YouTube.

“People watched it and then posted it to their (accounts) and it kept going and going and going,” said Mackey, 12. “It’s made me very happy to know that people are finally getting the message about how bullying can affect people.”

Mackey said she began to get bullied in school last year but the intensity increased and reached a new level this school year with hurtful notes left on her desk and mean text messages, Facebook messages and emails traded among the bullies.

A group of classmates, mostly boys at first, started the bullying.

It began with a game in which an imaginary disease originating from Mackey could be spread upon contact. It was called the “Mackey Touch” and many of her classmates participated.

More bullying led to nasty comments on her slight weight, name calling about being anorexic and suggestions she forced herself to throw up. The bullies said she was ugly, looked unkempt and needed to brush her hair more. To appease them she cut her hair, but to no avail.

At the worst of the ordeal not even her best friend or cousin wanted to play with her on the playground for fear of being attacked by the bullies, said Mackey. No one liked her, she said she was told.

The anger Mackey sometimes displayed in response often turned into tears once she went home.

The problem with bullying

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, more than 70 percent of students play a role in bullying, be it as a bully, victim or witness.

What separates bullying from perhaps teasing is that it involves intentional harm, often happens repeatedly and nearly always has a power dynamic, said Dr. Amanda Nickerson, director of the University of Buffalo’s Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention.

“People who bully often don’t feel empathy for the other person,” she said. “It gets them something, either social status or that feeling of control.”

A Georgia teen who received national attention last year went so far as to undergo plastic surgery as a result of bullying about her so-called “elephant ears.”

Research suggests bullying can lead to poor academic performance, depression and anxiety, and worst: death. That may explain the amount of attention it has received, especially in the age of social media and smartphones that allow instant messaging and picture sharing.

In February, the most comprehensive study to-date on the long-term effects of bullying was published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. It assessed 1,420 bullies and victims over several years in western North Carolina.

It found victims were 4.3 times more likely to have an anxiety disorder in adulthood, bullies who had also been bullied were 14.5 times more likely to develop panic disorder than those who hadn’t been bullied, and bullies who hadn’t been bullied were 4.1 times more likely to have anti-social personality disorder.

“The effects of being bullied are direct ... and long-lasting, with the worst effects for those who are both victims and bullies,” researchers said.

Nickerson cautioned against oversimplifying the link between suicide and bullying.

“We know that there are a lot of other factors that go into suicide attempts and completions like prior mental health problems, depression, not having appropriate treatment services and things like that,” she said.

But while bullying alone is not the sole reason for suicide it does, experts say, put victims at a higher risk, which may increase when they feel unsupported by peers, teachers and parents.

In April, a 13-year-old Columbus boy reportedly hanged himself with a belt in a home closet after being bullied by classmates.

Model of anti-bullying

That came after state lawmakers strengthened Georgia’s anti-bullying laws in 2010, following the 2010 suicide death of 11-year-old Jaheem Harrera, whom friends said was bullied, in DeKalb County.

Among other things, the law was expanded to include cyberbullying and students in lower grades.

It also directed the state Department of Education to develop anti-bullying policy that local school districts can model. Schools are required to report bullying to parents and remove the bully to an alternative school after three reported incidents.

In April 2011, the Savannah-Chatham County public school system implemented its anti-bullying policy in accordance with the legislation. It requires all bullying charges to be investigated, documented and placed in the student’s discipline file.

Principals must meet with the bully and his or her parent upon the first offense. Punishment ranges from detention to expulsion after the third offense.

Since former Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the anti-bullying legislation into law, considered among the strongest of the 49 states with such laws, reports of bullying have steadily declined in Chatham County public schools, according to district data.

During the 2009-10 school year, 213 incidents were reported; 130 incidents were documented in 2010-11; and 115 cases were reported in 2011-12.

Kurt Hetager, district spokesman, said new staff are offered training year-long by the Student Affairs Office to identify and report bullying to school administrators. “Student Affairs also does presentations regularly in schools and community on bullying prevention for students and parents,” he said.

In Mackey’s case, Blessed Sacrament Principal Lynn Coleman Brown did not return requests for an interview.

Shannon Linton, Mackey’s mom, said teachers and administrators at the private school were quick to respond to the bullying reports and even threatened to suspend the offenders.

However, the bullying continued after a brief pause and eventually moved onto the Internet.

“Starting around Christmas break, I noticed a change in her again,” recalled Linton, a substitute teacher. “She was starting to get more snippy and different things like that. One of her friends told me she was being bullied again.”

Taking a stand

Nickerson said she’d like to see more public focus on prevention rather than punitive strategies for dealing with bullying.

School environments play a critical part in bullying and more attention, said Nickerson, should be given early on to teaching empathy, conflict resolution, establishing clear limits and empowering peers to make a stand against such behavior.

“We know that the peer group has a lot to do with it because most of the kids who see it happening — and they’re usually present — don’t like it or feel good about it,” Nickerson said. “However, a very small minority actually try to do something to stop or report it.”

Karen Newsome, a counselor at Garden City Elementary School, said she regularly invites police officers and counselors to speak to her students about bullying.

Bullying has been such a concern for Newsome that about five years ago she created a system for students to anonymously report their experiences, which can result in expulsion for repeat offenders.

The “BullyStoppers Box” has had positive results, she said, and has uncovered cries for help, ranging from name-calling to sexual harassment on rare occasions.

“I’ve had students who’ve come in here to tell me that they wanted to kill themselves,” said Newsome.

For Mackey, it looked as if the bullying would go on indefinitely as she struggled to find a way to cope. Later, she learned a minor medical problem explained why she’d dropped as much as 20 pounds at one point and been the butt of anorexic jokes.

But the bullying, it seemed, would not be as easy to reconcile without drastic action. The idea to do a YouTube video came from her seeing similar ones online.

Not only did the bullying stop with the posting of her video, Mackey said, but her supporters — which throughout included her father Gene Linton Jr. and four older siblings — multiplied.

Students at other schools offered their support and local business owners agreed to Mackey’s request to wear pink T-shirts as a sign of solidarity on April 19.

“You are a brave girl, and we commend you in your efforts to put a stop to bullying,” the faculty and staff of Savannah Christian Preparatory School wrote to her.

Mackey said she was inspired to begin an anti-bullying campaign, which includes pink “No Bullying” T-shirts and a forthcoming School Kids Against Bullying (SKAB) website.

“I would like to add tips about how to recognize and stop bullying,” said Mackey, who believes she’s stronger than before.

“If you see somebody getting bullied on their way to lunch, don’t just stand there. You have to do something. Tell someone. Take a stand.”